Dryer appliances generally include a cabinet with a drum mounted therein. In some dryer appliances, a motor rotates the drum during operation of the dryer appliance, e.g., to tumble articles located within a chamber defined by the drum. Dryer appliances also generally include a heater assembly that passes heated air through the chamber of the drum in order to dry moisture-laden articles disposed within the chamber. This internal air then passes from the chamber through a vent duct to an exhaust conduit, through which the air is exhausted from the dryer appliance.
The motor of the dryer appliance is generally in mechanical communication with the drum of the dryer appliance via a drive belt, such that in operation, the motor rotates the drive belt, and the drive belt in turn transfers this rotation to the drum. Rotating the drum may cause articles to be dried within the drum to tumble within the drum, increasing the contact area of the articles with the heated air passing through the chamber. Increasing the contact area of the articles with the heated air passing through the chamber may provide decreased drying time for the articles and more even thermal distribution across the articles.
However, drive belts may eventually wear out and/or become disabled, e.g., become misaligned or break. For example, a driver belt may become disabled due to a partial or complete break, such as a partial movement or loss of ribs. A disability of the drive belt, along with the presence of certain additional conditions, such as the time of day or the operating state of the dryer appliance at the time the belt breaks, may indicate an unintended circumstance involving the dryer appliance which it would be desirable to mitigate the unintended circumstance and/or notify a user of the unintended circumstance.
Accordingly, a dryer appliance with features for detecting a disabled drive belt and one or more additional conditions would be useful.